By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Munford Cougars earned the right to officially host the 2019 Region 7-3A Boys Basketball Tournament Saturday night defeating the Arlington Tigers 53-49.
The No. 1 seeded Munford Cougars earned the right to host the Tigers in the first round of the Region 7-3A Tournament by winning the District 13-3A championship. The No. 4 seeded Arlington Tigers came into Tipton County ready to pull off the upset jumping ahead 11-3 in the first quarters.
Then the Cougars displayed the heart of a champion outscoring Arlington 11-4 the rest of the period to make the score 15-14 in favor of the Tigers.
Munford continued the hot shooting and solid defense over the next two quarters building a 39-24 lead after a Landon Winter triple midway through the third.
“We probably don’t win this without (that senior leadership),” Munford Head Coach Ryan Ross said. “I thought the guys buckled down there. We went through a stretch I think we relaxed there a little bit — more mentally than anything else. We had some turnovers against some pressure we’ve been facing all game. I think we just kind of relaxed there a little.
“They took advantage of it,” he added. “Give them credit, they would not go away. They kept fighting and clawing. They clawed their way back into it. But I am proud of my guys for making the stops down the stretch to finally seal the deal. Maybe not as pretty as I would like, but we got the job done.”
Munford outscored the Tigers 13-7 to take a 27-22 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Cougars dominated the action early in the third quarter going on a 9-0 run to jump ahead 36-22. During that span the Cougars received three-pointers from Winter and TJ Tyus. James Farrow and Kylan Cunningham added the rest the points.
When Winter drained his second triple of the third quarter, the Munford advantage was ahead 15 points. The Cougars largest lead of the night was 41-25 after a Kyree Cunningham bucket.
Arlington started to fight back closing out the third quarter on a 7-1 run to make the tally 42-32.
The Tigers continued their hot streak in the fourth quarter outscoring Munford 8-2 in the opening minutes. The Cougars’ lead was 44-40. The Cunningham twins grew the advantage back to 46-40 with a free throw each.
Down the stretch the Munford defense limited the Tigers offensively while hitting foul shots to prevail 53-49 and advance to the Region 7-3A Semifinals to play the Bolton Wildcats. The Wildcats were 62-57 victors over the Brighton Cardinals Saturday night on their home floor.
Now the Bolton Wildcats are the team that stand in the way of the Cougars making history of reaching Sub-State for the first time since the mid 1990s.
“We have to get through four quarters mentally,” Ross said. “We’re there. You’re not going to have those mental lapses against a team like Bolton we play Tuesday night. I think its a group of guys in there who are hungry. I think they’re aware of the opportunity they have and that history is there and what they can accomplish. We’ve had some really good practices. I think we’re locked in right now. We’ll be excited for the challenge.”
